


i wanna fight with you and no one else

by rainydayscribbles



Series: can't count the years on one hand that we've been together [2]
Category: Never Have I Ever (TV)
Genre: Banter, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Just a cute fic, Unreliable Narrator, ben being possessive, idk what else to tag lmao, this is a oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainydayscribbles/pseuds/rainydayscribbles
Summary: In which Ben Gross takes Devi Vishwakumar to his frat's formal.
Relationships: Ben Gross/Devi Vishwakumar
Series: can't count the years on one hand that we've been together [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888549
Comments: 23
Kudos: 112





	i wanna fight with you and no one else

**Author's Note:**

> hellooooo. just wanted to write a cute fic about ben and devi. could not get this idea out of my head so i wrote it and edited it in like two hours. (don't kill me if it's not good.)
> 
> i wanted to write high school ben/devi, but after writing a ton of adult ben/devi, it's hard to make the jump to high school. so here i am, giving you all a college fic. it's just cute fluff and banter so that's what you're in the mood for here u go.
> 
> also this is 100% a sidenote but does ben remind anyone else of schmidt from new girl?? i was thinking about that yesterday and the resemblance is SO strong oh my 
> 
> ps dance scene is inspired by the wedding scene at the beginning of "made of honor" 
> 
> thank u for reading okii byee

"Please, Devi, just consider it?" Ben internally kicks himself when the tone of his voice comes dangerously close to _begging_ because he would never beg Devi Vishwakumar for anything, but come on, as his best friend, she _really_ was not living up to her title right now.

"I said no, Gross. I'm not going to your stupid Jewish fraternity formal. And besides, shouldn't you be asking sorority girls to come with you or something? Isn't that how Greek life works?" Devi is sitting on his couch, working through a set of problems for Organic Chemistry, trying to ignore Ben's pleas.

"No, Devi." A pause. "You can bring anyone you want."

"Okay, but I don't have the time to go away for a whole weekend. Unlike you and your little frat brothers, I _actually_ have work to do."

Ben sighs, closing his eyes briefly, trying to regain his patience, before continuing.

"Since we're a smaller frat, we're not even doing the typical weekend getaway. It's just one night and….if I show up without a date I will get dropped so fast."

"You sound _extremely_ desperate right now, Gross," Devi momentarily pauses from doing her homework to look up at Ben, smirking.

"Admit it, David, you've always wanted to know what a frat formal is like."

"Having to make conversation with an army of Chads and then watch drunk white people try to get down to 50 Cent? I'll pass."

"Hey. Jewish people _can_ dance. I'm so good at dancing," Ben insists, incredulously, because this is a _golden_ opportunity he's giving her, free food and drinks and good people, and she's acting as if he asked her to pet a cactus.

Devi laughs, throwing her head back, and Ben is momentarily shaken from his impatient internal monologue, by the creamy expanse of her neck, smooth and soft.

"Fine, Gross. I'll come with you, just to see if you can live up to your word."

Ben can't help but break into a smug grin.

* * *

Ben is pacing outside of Devi's door, waiting for her to open it. She had texted him a screenshot of a dress she found online a few days ago, white and short, asking a simple "This good?", and they had talked back and forth a little about dresses and matching and nothing and everything.

(He ignored the fact that his brain tried not to short circuit as he imagined her in it. It's not important.)

All he has to do now is push open her door and see her in it, and he's _Ben Gross_. The suit he's wearing is _Gucci_ , for God's sake. He can stand to see Devi in her Princess Polly (or whatever cheap online site it was) dress. But he's oddly nervous, so he shoves his hands in his pockets to stop their slight shaking.

Before he can raise his hand to knock on the door to her apartment, she opens it, and he tries not to gape at her. Devi is dressed in a tight, low-cut, _red_ dress, nothing like the picture, with black heels. She looks sexy, but more so, just gorgeous, and suddenly Ben is _really_ glad he asked her to go with him.

Devi doesn't look nearly the same amount of happy to see him, because she grumbles, audibly _grumbles_ at the sight of him.

"Hey, Gross. Lemme just grab my purse, come in."

Ben steps inside and watches her while she rushes around, throwing lip balm, body lotion, and an oddly familiar-looking foil package (was that a condom or was he imagining things?) into her purse. He realizes he's been observing her for far too long when she walks up to him and his gaze still hasn't shifted from her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I'm not wearing the white one by the way. It didn't come in time so I had to borrow this from my friend, and she's a size smaller than me."

Ben doesn't say anything.

"Ben, you're staring."

He gulps and tentatively swallows.

"You just look _really_ good tonight."

He swears he sees a smile ghost across her face, right before she smirks at him.

* * *

Ben and Devi bicker for most of the Uber ride, which seems to piss off their driver, because the drive is about 30 minutes. Devi is just about to ask Ben where they're going when they stop, and Ben helps her out.

She scans the street and turns to Ben surprisingly. "An Indian restaurant?"

Ben looks down, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah, um, you were always complaining about how much you miss your mom's food. And there are no Indian restaurants close to campus, so, uh, I thought you'd like this for a change."

Devi, against her better judgement, smiles.

* * *

Devi is discovering that the Jewish frat is actually a lot nicer than normal frats. As in the people who are _in_ it. They're interesting, sweet for the most part, and polite.

She's also discovering that she doesn't really mind being pressed up against Ben's side, his hand around her waist, as she introduces her to yet _another_ one of his frat brothers. She tries not to think about how _sure_ his hand is, how soft yet hard he feels, and how she feels like she's falling into him, even though she's trying to remain as upright as possible.

"This is Devi, my best friend from high school," Ben pauses to look at her, with a hint of pride in his eyes, as if he's showing off a really big trophy, something he put time and effort into winning.

Devi just smiles and leans into Ben a tad more, listening to him talk to a couple-Jared and Sheila-about how they fell in love and celebrating their second anniversary tomorrow. She's not quite sure what to say, but feeling left out of the conversation, she smiles and opens her mouth.

"Mazel tov on your anniversary," she says, smiling politely.

By the way Ben's face breaks into the biggest grin she's seen him wear, she knows she's said the right thing.

* * *

"Oh my god, David. Come on, quick. Dance with me," Ben pulls Devi on to the dance floor, looking over his shoulder worriedly.

"What? No, Gross. _Why_?" Devi pushes back, but Ben is already drawing her close to him, wrapping his hand around her waist, and swaying from side to side.

"Because I saw a girl I didn't call back after I slept with her. And she's _psycho_ , oh my god. I don't want her to come over here and chop my dick off," Ben replies, and Devi can't help but almost laugh at the worry in his voice.

"Why didn't you call her back, Gross? I'm half tempted to move out of the way so she just sees you."

" _No_!" Ben cries, pulling Devi even closer to him. "Okay, keep your face right in front of mine. That way she won't see me."

Devi rolls her eyes but leans closer to Ben, "You're being entirely crazy. She's not gonna see you in the middle of all these people."

" _I'm_ being crazy? She's the one who called me twenty times the next day, and left me ten voicemails!" Ben looks incredulous and Devi actually laughs out loud now.

"She wouldn't have done that, Gross, if you had just been honest with her about how you felt."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ben quips back, halfheartedly, still swaying with her, looking into her eyes partially because there was nowhere else to look when they were so close, but partially because he loved her eyes, deep and warm, so expressive.

As Ben stares at her, he can't help but feel immensely lucky for the _hundredth_ time today that he invited her. She was an amazing date, but also, it just felt good to spend time with her, especially when he got to be this close to her.

"Ben? Is she gone?" Devi questions, eyebrows furrowing.

"What? Oh, um," Ben looks over Devi's shoulder, and sees no sign of the girl anywhere. He feels a little crestfallen, for some reason, and looks back at Devi.

"Nah, she's still there. We should, um, keep dancing, just to avoid her," Ben says, a little hesitantly.

The way Devi looks back at him, he knows that she can tell he's lying, but she doesn't say anything, just leans forward to rest her head on his shoulder.

* * *

Ben walks Devi back to her apartment, a comfortable silence between them.

"Well, thanks for a great night, Ben. I had a lot more fun than I expected, _even_ if I did go with you as a pity date," Devi leans back on her door, smirking, but he can tell her words are genuine.

Ben smirks back at her fondly, steps closer, because he can't bring himself to actually be mad at her.

"No problem, Devi. Everyone there loved you."

Devi smiles then, unexpectedly. "Of course they did, Gross. I'm a _fucking_ delight. I honestly think the person there who liked me the least was you."

"But you came with _me_. No one else," Ben quips back, taking another step forward, now just a few inches from Devi's face.

"Damn, Gross, sounds a little possessive," Devi banters, arms crossed over her chest.

"Maybe, I am, of you," Ben says, eyes boring into hers, hands shaking in his pockets.

"Maybe that's the one thing I like about you," Devi responds, with a hint of a smile on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u sm for reading! leave a comment to make me smile :)))


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